Weft supplying device for a warp knitting machine

ABSTRACT

Warp knitting machine having a zone wherein needles are disposed and means for supplying warp threads to the needles includes a device for filling a weft having first holder members for making the weft ready outside the needle zone, means for guiding the weft to the warp threads comprising a thread guide cooperating therewith for making the weft ready, the thread guide being displaceable in a closed travel path, means for feeding a plurality of wefts selectively to the thread guide for entrainment thereby in the closed travel path thereof, the thread guide having a clamping member for individually gripping the thread for each weft, second holder means located adjacent the travel path of the thread guide and adapted to receive from the latter the weft gripped by the clamping member, and a severing member coordinated with the first holder members for cutting into predetermined lengths the weft to be made ready, the severing member being connected to the displacement thread guide.

United States Patent Furst 1 May 15, 1973 541 WEFT SUPPLYING DEVICE FORA 900,408 7/1962 Great Britain ..66/85 WARP KNITTING MACHINE l58,5304/1957 Sweden ..66/85 [75] Inventor: gtefan Furst, Moenchengladbach,Primary Examiner Robert R. Mackey ermany Attorney-Curt M. Aveny, ArthurE. Wilfond. Her [73] Assignee: Walter Reiners, Monchemgladbach, bert L,Lerner and Daniel J. Tick Germany [22] Filed: Oct. 30, 1969 [57]ABSTRACT [211 Appl. No.: 872,705 Warp knitting machine having a zonewherein needles are disposed and means for supplying warp threads to theneedles includes a device for filling a weft having [30] ForelgnApphcamm Pnonty Data first holder members for making the weft ready out-1968 Germany 13 06 505-9 side the needle zone, means for guiding theweft to the v warp threads comprising a thread guide cooperating U-S. t[herewith for making the weft ready the thread guide Cl. t beingdisplaceable in a losed travel path means for [58] Field of Search..66/84, 85; 139/122, f di a plurality f ft Selectively to the thread139/ 27 guide for entrainment thereby in the closed travel path thereof,the thread guide having a clamping member [56] References C'ted forindividually gripping the thread for each weft, UNITED STATES PATENTSsecond holder means located adjacent the travel path of the thread guideand adapted to receive from the l,73l,369 10/1929 Baldwin ..l39/l27latter the weft the clamping member and a mP f isevering membercoordinated with the first holder izuno e a 3,498,338 3/1970 Lutze.i139/122ux members for cunmg predetermmed lengths the FOREIGN PATENTSOR APPLICATIONS 2/l9l6 Germany .,66/84 weft to be made ready, thesevering member being connected to the displacement thread guide.

5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PAIENTL'UHAYwma 3,732,707,

sum 2 BF 4 I f/// ll 3 WEFT SUPPLYING DEVICE FOR A WARP KNITTING MACHINEMy invention relates to warp knitting machines and especially to Raschelknitting machines.

In my copending application Ser. No. 861,250, filed Sept. 26, 1969 nowUS. Pat. No. 3,620,048 granted Nov. 16, 1971, a warp knitting machine,especially a Raschel knitting machine, having a zone wherein needles aredisposed and means for supplying warp threads to the needles comprises adevice for filling a weft having a first holder members for making theweft ready outside the needle zone, means for guiding the weft to thewarp threads comprising a thread guide cooperating therewith for makingthe weft ready, the thread guide being displaceable in a closed travelpath, means for feeding a plurality of wefts selectively to the threadguide for entrainment thereby in the closed travel path thereof, asevering member located adjacent and coordinated with the first holdermembers for cutting into predetermined lengths the weft to be madeready, the thread guide having a clamping member for individuallygripping the thread for each weft, and second holder means locatedadjacent the travel path of the thread guide and adapted to receive fromthe latter the weft gripped by the clamping member.

In a warp knitting machine of such construction, the individual threadsmade ready or applied to the thread guide by the holder members in thevicinity of the weft reversal locations i.e. in the vicinity of one ofthe edges of the knitted web, are seized by the thread guide in thecourse of its travel, are passed to the holder member located at theopposite edge of the knitted web, are transferred to the last-mentionedholder member, are severed by a severing member in lengths correspondingto the width of the knitted web, and are applied individually to thewarp threads by means of a guide member. This operation can then berepeated with the'same or another thread by the returning thread guideor by additional thread guides further guided on the travel paththereof.

It is an object of my invention to provide a warp knitting machine ofimproved construction with respect to the machine of my aforementionedcopending application and especially such a machine having animprovement in the location of the weft-severing member.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, I provide such a warpknitting machine wherein the weftsevering member is connected to thethread guide which is displaceable in a closed travel path.

In accordance with'another feature of my invention, I provide such awarp knitting machine wherein the weft-severing member is secured to thethread guide at a location or in a region wherein the weft extends fromthe thread guide to the warp threads.

In accordance with a further feature of my invention, the thread guideis constructed as clamping shears, so that severing and clamping membersare combined in the thread guide, which signifies a considerablesimplification and increase in functional stability in the course offilling the weft.

A possible multiple scale of designing patterns for the Raschel knittingmachine can be achieved if several wefts different from one another canbe fed or applied selectively and in a given sequence to the threadguide in a relatively simple manner. Consequently, in accordance with anadditional feature of my invention, I provide separate thread feedersfor guiding wefts that are being fed to the thread guide, the threadfeeders being mounted turret-like in a common adjusting member. Theturret-like construction makes it possible to effect an exchange of thewefts by a simple turning movement and to prevent the wefts fromtwisting around one another.

In accordance with yet another feature of my invention, I dispose thefirst holder members and the thread feeders so as to define a feed pathfor the wefts extending in a direction substantially perpendicular tothe travel path of the thread guide.

Other features which are considered as characteristic for the inventionare set forth in the appended claims.

Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodiedin warp knitting machine, it is nevertheless not intended to be limitedto the details shown, since various modifications and structural changesmay be made therein without departing from the spirit of the inventionand within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.

The construction and method of operation of the invention, however,together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be bestunderstood from the following description of specific embodiments whenread in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view partly in section of a Raschel knittingmachine constructed in accordance with my invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of FIG. 1 taken along the line IIII in thedirection of the arrows showing the Raschel knitting machine in onephase of the operation thereof;

FIG. 3 is another view corresponding to that of FIG. 2 showing theRashcel knitting machine in another phase of the operation thereof;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view of the device for filling a weft whichincludes two rotating thread guides and drive mechanism therefor as seenfrom the right-hand side of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view, partly in section, of a detail of FIG. 2rotated through an angle of and depicting the feed of the weft to thethread guide; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of FIG. 5 taken along the line VI--VI in thedirection of the arrows.

Referring now to the drawings and first particularly to FIG. 1 thereof,there is shown therein, as in my aforementioned copending applicationSer. No. 861,250, a Raschel knitting machine having a frame side wall 1to which connecting members or crosspieces 66 and 67 and a traverse orcross beam 33 are secured. In the interest of clarity, the projectingarm on which a pair of cross-wound bobbins ro cheeses are carried tosupply the weft to the knitting machine is not illustrated in FIG. I.The nonillustrated projecting arm can have any suitable shape formounting the bobbins side-by-side as shown for example in FIGS. 2 and 3.Partial warp beams 34 and 35 are rotatably mounted on the upper part ofthe side wall 1, and warp threads 36 and 37 lead therefrom,respectively, through spring seesaws or rocker arms 38 and 38' to eyeneedles 39 and 40 and therefrom to latch needles 31 of the knittingmachine. The latch needles 31 are secured by a needle bar 2l to acarrier rod 23. The knitting machine has a main drive shaft 17 whichcarries a cam 18 by means of which a lever 20 carrying follower rollersthat are in engagement with the surface of the cam 18 is pivotable abouta pivot shaft 19 fixed, for example, to the side wall 1. The lever 20 ispivotally connected to the carrier rod 23 supporting the needle bar 21and raises and lowers the latter in accordance with the motion impartedthereto by the rotating cam 18. The carrier rod 23 is articulatinglyconnected at its lower end, as viewed in FIG. 1, to a pull lever 25which is rotatably mounted on a pin 26 extending from the side wall I. Acutting plate 27 is fixed to the side wall 1 and extends transverselytherefrom. Fabric material 28 which has been knitted in the Raschelknitting machine of the invention is withdrawn from the needles 31 byrotatably mounted feed rollers 29 and 30, suitably driven, for example,through nonillustrated transmission mechanism, from the main drive shaft17, and is wound on a beam 32.

FIG. 2 is a view of the Raschel knitting machine as seen from above andalong the line II-II in FIG. 1, various details of the machine notrequired for explaining the invention and which would otherwise affectthe clarity of the disclosure have been omitted.

FIG. 2 shows the finished woven material 28 in front of which a row ofstitch-forming needles 31 on the needle bar 21 is disposed. Theweftsfandj are withdrawn from the supply coils or bobbins 530 and 531. Athread portion f" of the weftf is fed from the thread guide 613, whichhas the structure of a clamping shears, to a holder member 538, whichserves simultaneously as guide member for filling the weft to the warpthreads, and which is, for example, formed as a suction nozzle. Thisholder member 538, as seen in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, is secured to a shaft540 which is pivotable by a lever arm 541. The lever arm 541 is biasedby a tension spring 542 into engagement with the surface of a cam 543which is mounted-on the main drive shaft 17. In the interest of clarity,the lever arm 541 is shown broken off in FIG. 1 and the cam 543 isomitted from that figure.

The weft f traveling from the weft bobbin 530, initially guided throughthe feed head 639 provided with thread feeders 632 and 633 and madeready between the holder members 635 and 636 is gripped by the threadguide 612 having the structure of a clamping shears.

In the interest of clarity, the turret head 639 is shown in theillustrated embodiment as having only twp thread feeders 632 and 633, itbeing obvious, of course, that many more feeders may actually beprovided therein, with a corresponding number or even greater number ofbobbins accompanying the same. Depending upon the respective designingpattern, several threads can be guided by one thread feeder. Therevolving motion of the turret head 639 can be effected by atransmission drive 345 in accordance with the particular momentumimparted thereto to achieve the desired pattern by a conventionaladjusting member 638 which is not shown in detail since its structure iswell known to the man of ordinary skill in the art of warp knittingmachines.

In the operating stage of the warp knitting machine of my invention asillustrated in FIG. 3. the thread guide 612 traveling on its closedtravel path with the weft fclamped therein has reached the center of themachine, after the weftfhas previously been caught by the thread guide612 in the position shown in FIG. 2 wherein the weft f is locatedbetween the two holder members 635 and 636, and has been clamped andsevered, which can be seen from the presence of the remainder threadf"in FIG. 3. The severed weft portion f" is tightly held by the holdermember 635 with the aid of a sliding clamp 661 on the opposite side ofthe holder member 635 and is made ready for binding into or filling thewarp threads. From FIGS. 2 and 3, it is, moreover, apparent that theshaft 603 of the rotary transmission 600 is driven from the main driveshaft over the shaft 14 at a transmission ratio of 1:2 because, for eachhalf rotation of the shaft 603, a respective weft is made ready by thethread guide 612 or 613.

The rotary mechanism 600, as shown in FIG. 4, includes an inner rodportion 601 rotatably mounted on a shaft 603 carried by a cross-piece orbeam 9 (FIG. I) which is secured transversely to the side wall 1. Theinner rod portion 601 is provided at both ends thereof with bearingswherein outer rod portions 604 and 605 are respectively pivotallymounted. Bearings are located respectively at the outer ends of the rodportions 604 and 605, the thread guides 612 and 613 being respectivelyrotatably mounted in those bearings. Transmission of rotary movementsfrom the shaft 603 to the outer rod portions 604 and 605 as well as tothe thread guides 612 and 613 is effected through a belt or chain drivemechanism 602, 606 and 607. Due to the fact that the drive of the threadguides 612 and 613 is effected through the drive mechanisms 606 and 607,respectively with a transmission ratio of 1:2, the thread guides 612 and613 constructed as clamping shears, with the spaces thereof respectivelylocated between the clamping arms 612a and 612b, on the one hand, andbetween the arms 613a and 6131;, on the other hand, always point in thesame direction i.e. toward the left-hand side of FIGS. 2 and 3.Furthermore, the outer arms 604 and 605 are each provided with two camsurfaces 610 and 611, on the one hand, and 614 and 615, on the otherhand (FIG. 4) for suitably opening and closing the thread guides 612 and613 which are constructed in the form of clamping shears, as describedmore clearly hereinafter with regard to FIGS. 5 and 6.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show the operation of the holder members 634, 635, 636 and637 as well as the operation of the thread guide 612 when filling aweft. Of course, the thread guide 613 and the respective holder membersoperate in a similar manner.

As shown in FIG. 5, the holder members 634, 635, 636 and 637 arehook-shaped and mounted in a transmission drive system so that thepoints of all the hooks always face in common in the same direction. Therotary motion of the holder members for the purpose of making ready theweft, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, is effected from the main drive shaft17 through the transmission 345 and the shaft 348 in the housing 354fastened to the frame of the warp knitting machine of the invention. Anentrainer pin 349 is secured by means of a disc 3480 to the shaft 348and cooperates with the disc 353 like a maltese cross. The disc 353 isconnected through the shaft 355 with a disc 650 in which shafts 6510,651b, 6516 and 651d are secured which are rotatably mounted in levers6520, 652b, 652s and 652d, respectively. The levers 6520 to 652d arefirmly connected to the holder members 634 to 637, respectively, whichin turn are rotatably mounted in a cover 357 for the housing 354. Thecover 357 is rotatable with respect to the housing 354 by means of ballbearings 356.

The holder members 634 and 637 are furthermore provided with clampingpins 660 to 663, respectively, whose clamping position and open positionare controlled by a cam member 664 in the manner clearly shown in FIG.5.

It is also apparent from FIGS. 5 and 6 that the thread guide 612 can bein the form of a clamping shears similar for the tie beaks of threadknotting devices. The thread guide 612 is formed of a middle portion612a cooperating on one hand with a severing member 61% as well as onthe other hand with a clamping member 612C. The middle portion 612a isrotatably mounted on a pin 670 and receives from a compression spring671 the prestressing biasing force required for clamping the weft. Themovement of the middle portion 612a is controlled by the cam surfaces610 and 611 located on the outer rod portion 604. The severing member612a is moreover provided with an elongated slot 672 wherein the bellcrank 673, which is moved in accordance with the cams 610 and 611, isreceived. The bell crank 673 is pivotally mounted on a pin 674 and isbiased by the torsion spring 675 toward the cams 610 and 611.

As mentioned hereinbefore, the thread f traveling from he weft bobbin530 and guided through the thread feeder 632 and made ready between theholder members 635 and 636, is caught by the thread guide 612 in theoperating stage shown in FIGS. 2, 5 and 6. The thread portion 1previously made ready by the thread guide 613 extends along the alreadyknitted fabric web and has been fed to the holder member 538. Theclamping member 661 has simultaneously tightly gripped this threadf inthe holder member 635. If the thread guide 612 is closed by dropping themiddle portion 612a directly after the operating stage shown in FIG. 5,the thread f leading to the respective supply bobbin is clamped firmlybetween the middle portion 612a and the clamping member 6120 while thethread f is severed by the severing member 612b so that only theremainder thread portion f'" remains hanging in the clamp 661.

The thread guide 612 can then draw the thread 5 from the respective weftsupply bobbin through the holder member 636 whose clamp 662 is openuntil the thread f reaches the position of the thread guide 613 as shownin FIG. 2.

In this operating stage, the Maltese cross or star wheel transmissionhas turned the holder members 634 to 637 in the direction of the arrow Ain FIG. 6 counterclockwise through an angle of 90 so that the holdermember 635 reaches the position of the holder member 634. The processcan then be repeated wherein the clamping member 662 firmly grips thethread in the holder member 636. The clamping of the thread f" in theholder member 635 by means of the clamping member 661 is released afterthe threadj" is placed behind the needle row 31 and is filled by thewarp threads and is stitched. During the last-described process ofcatching and making ready the thread f, the thread portionf from thethread feeder 633 is held in such a position that it cannot be capturedby the thread guide 612. If, during the next weft feed, the weftportionf' is fed instead of the weft f, the turret head 639 is rotatedthrough an angle of 180 so that the thread portionf attains the positionof the threadfshown in the figures. In this case, obviously when thethread guide 612 is closed, the end of the thread portion 1" leading tothe warp threads or to the fabric web being finished is severed whilethe thread fremains connected to the fabric web for a period of timelong enough so that it can be again filled or inserted as weft thread.

As has been aforementioned, to facilitate the understanding of theprocess, the drawing only shows the exchange of a pair of wefts.However, many additional thread feeders, such as thread feeders 632 and633 can be distributed in the turret head 639 which can be controlledrespectively in accordance with the desired designing pattern so thatthe selected threads are fed to the thread guide 612 so as to be caughtthereby. In order to prevent twisting of the threads that are being madeready, care must be taken that the turret head 639 is not always turnedin one direction, but rather is reciprocatingly turned between twoextreme rotary positions in opposite rotary directions. Moreover, it isadvantageous if in accordance with the disclosure in FIG. 6, the axis6390 about which the turret head 639 rotates is so displaced that thelength of the thread is not altered when the weft is exchanged.

In a manner not much dissimilar to that described in the aforementionedcopending application Ser. No. 861,250, filed Sept. 26, 1969, during themovement of the thread guide 612 from the edge of the knitted fabric orweb shown at the left-hand side of FIGS. 2 and 3 to the edge of theknitted fabric shown at the right-hand side thereof, the thread f issevered by the severing member 612b, and the remaining thread istransferred by the holder members 635 and 538 from the position thereofin FIG. 2 to the position thereof in FIG. 3, wherein the severed threadf" has been seized by the knitting needles and intermeshed or knittedwith the warp threads. Simultaneously with the movement of the threadguide 612 from the edge of the knitted fabric at the left-hand side tothe edge thereof at the righthand side of FIG. 2, the position of theturret head 639 is reciprocatingly turned through a predetermined angleso that the thread)" returns to the ready position thereof, in order tobe seized by the thread guide 613 which had in the interim traveled fromthe edge of the fabric at the right-hand side to the edge of the fabricat the left-hand side of FIG. 2. The turret head 639 is suitably turned,as aforementioned, by the conventional adjusting member 638. As thethread guide 613 is traveling toward the left-hand side of FIG. 3 toseize the thread)", the thread guide 612, as shown in FIG. 3, has seizedthe severed end of the thread fand has moved it halfway toward theholder member 538 from the holder member 636. By the time the threadguide 612 will have moved the end of the threadfcompletely toward theright-hand side of FIG. 3, the holder member 538 will have returnedto-the position thereof, shown in FIG. 2, and the end of the threadfwillbe transferred from the thread guide 612 to the holder member 538, whilethe holder member 636 will have been indexed to the position occupied bythe holder member 635 in FIG. 2. At the same time, the holder member 637will have been indexed to the position previously occupied by the holdermember 636 in FIG. 2. The thread guide 613 seizes the thread j in thesame member as the thread guide 612 seizes the thread f. The threadguide 613 is moved due to the rotation of the rod portion 601 and'605thereof in the same manner as the thread guide 612, in order to feed thethreadf seized thereby to the holder members 637 and 538. During theswinging movement of the thread guide 613 from the edge of the knittedfabric at the left-hand side to the edge of the knitted fabric at theright-hand side of FIG. 2, he thread ffed in the interim by the threadguide 612 is seized by the holder members 538 and 637 and is transferredto the knitting needles to be intermeshed or knitted with the warpthreads. By the time the thread guide 613 has moved the severed end ofthe thread f to the edge of the knitted fabric at the right-hand side ofFIG. 2 and transferred it to the holder member 538, and has thenreturned through the intermediate position shown in FIG. 3 to theposition occupied by the thread guide 612 in FIG. 2, the holder member634 will have been indexed to the position now occupied by holder member636 in FIG. 2. Consequently, the thread guide 613 will then sever thethread f between the holder members 637 and 634 and will then draw thethreadf' from the edge at the left-hand side to the edge at theright-hand side of the knitted fabric between the holder members 634 and538, to complete the cycle.

Due to the revolving movement of both thread guides 612 and 613 on thetravel path 616, an the simultaneous turning of the turret head 639, thethreadsfand f, as aforedcscribed, are alternately fed to the knittingneedles so as to be intermeshed or knitted with the warp threads.

I claim:

1. Warp knitting machine having a zone wherein needles are disposed andmeans for supplying warp threads to the needles comprising a device forfilling a weft having first holder members for making the weft readyoutside the needle zone, said first holder members having a thread guidecooperating therewith for making the weft ready, said thread guide beingdisplaceable in a closed travel path, means for feeding a plurality ofwefts selectively to said thread guide for entrainment thereby in saidclosed travel path thereof, said thread guide having a clamping memberfor individually gripping the thread for each weft, second holder meanslocated adjacent the travel path of said thread guide and adapted toreceive from the latter the weft gripped by said clamping member, and asevering member coordinated with said first holder members for cuttinginto predetermined lengths the weft to be made ready, said severingmember being connected to said displaceable thread guide.

2. Warp knitting machine according to claim 1 wherein said weft-severingmember is secured to said thread guide in a region wherein the weftextends from said thread guide to a location at which finished fabricweb is disposed.

3. Warp knitting machine according to claim 1 wherein said thread guideis constructed as a clamping shears.

4. Warp knitting machine according to claim 1 wherein said means forfeeding a plurality of wefts comprises a plurality of separate threadfeeders mounted turret-like in a common adjusting member.

5. Warp knitting machine according to claim 1 wherein said means forfeeding a plurality of wefts comprises a plurality of separate threadfeeders, said first holder members and said thread feeders beingdisposed so as to define a feed path for the wefts therebetweenextending in direction substantially perpendicular to said travel pathof said thread guide.

1. Warp knitting machine having a zone wherein needles are disposed andmeans for supplying warp threads to the needles comprising a device forfilling a weft having first holder members for making the weft readyoutside the needle zone, said first holder members having a thread guidecooperating therewith for making the weft ready, said thread guide beingdisplaceable in a closed travel path, means for feeding a plurality ofwefts selectively to said thread guide for entrainment thereby in saidclosed travel path thereof, said thread guide having a clamping memberfor individually gripping the thread for each weft, second holder meanslocated adjacent the travel path of said thread guide and adapted toreceive from the latter the weft gripped by said clamping member, and asevering member coordinated with said first holder members for cuttinginto predetermined lengths the weft to be made ready, said severingmember being connected to said displaceable thread guide.
 2. Warpknitting machine according to claim 1 wherein said weft-severing memberis secured to said thread guide in a region wherein the weft extendsfrom said thread guide to a location at which finished fabric web isdisposed.
 3. Warp knitting machine according to claim 1 wherein saidthread guide is constructed as a clamping shears.
 4. Warp knittingmachine according to claim 1 wherein said means for feeding a pluralityof wefts comprises a plurality of separate thread feeders mountedturret-like in a common adjusting member.
 5. Warp knitting machineaccording to claim 1 wherein said means for feeding a plurality of weftscomprises a plurality of separate thread feeders, said first holdermembers and said thread feeders being disposed so as to define a feedpath for the wefts therebetween extending in direction substantiallyperpendicular to said travel path of said thread guide.